A member of a little known cult called 'Soldiers of Heaven,' lies dead at the cult's compound in Zarqa, outside Najaf, Iraq. Iraq's Defense Ministry said 263 militants were killed, 210 wounded and 392 captured in a fierce 24-hour battle. These are the militants that the author of this article refers to. Additional photos below.

"Resistance must be expanded to
include all of Iraq's people, who we know sacrificed for the good of the
country for centuries before the advent of the political scum that currently
rules the country."

To all
the organizations, fronts, and fighting resistance movements in Iraq: warm nationalist greetings.

I write
this open letter certain that it will find its way into your hands and that it
will be viewed and read by the Iraqi people. May God bless you and help you in
your cause, strengthen your hearts and your footholds, and make you a part of
those who never run in fear (Quran: If you abide
by Allah's rules he will bestow victory upon you and strengthen your position).

I begin
by saying that Allah's hand strengthens those who are united (Quran: All be faithful to Allah and never disperse).
I want to say that it is always of great benefit to learn from the experience
of others. Let us learn the lessons of history and develop plans that can be
executed quickly.

There are
numerous examples of national resistance movements against foreign occupiers,
collaborators and insiders who aid, abet and side with the occupier and who
sell themselves, their countries and their own peoples out. This being Iraq's
situation today, we should turn to these examples.

The first
model of national armed resistance is that of the Vietnamese against American
occupation during the 1960s. The second is that of the now 50-year Palestinian
resistance against Israeli occupation. The successes and failures of these two
resistance movements are worthy of study; the lessons learned could form the
basis of a successful resistance against the foreign occupier and clients of
Iran who today hold power in Iraq. These models should provide a bridgehead for
making a qualitative leap forward. I haven't touched on the experiences of
other resistance movements, whether in Latin America or Africa, since the two
models we have chosen are representative in terms of popular Third World
struggles.

The
Vietnamese resistance was not an armed front for the Communist Party as some
believe. That was just American propaganda, similar to what the U.S. is trying
to do today by labeling the people who resist its plans in Iraq as terrorists,
extremists or followers of al-Qaeda. The Vietnamese
resistance (the Vietcong) comprised all nationalists who had taken up arms
against America's presence on their soil. Organizationally and tactically, the
Vietcong had a unique strategy based on uniting civilian activities, guerilla
attacks and formal military maneuvers into a single front and dragging the
occupier into what is known in the military as "unconventional exchanges."

Because
of this strategy, American troops failed to defeat and annihilate the Vietcong,
despite using the most advanced weaponry of that era, such as Napalm bombs,
cluster and phosphoric bombs and toxic gases; all of which caused fires in the
forests and swamps that the Vietcong used to launch their attacks and as a field
of battle. But despite all of these munitions, U.S. forces were unable to
eradicate the Vietnamese resistance and were compelled to withdraw in a defeat
that was much worse psychologically than militarily. The U.S. left Vietnam
licking its wounds and for many years later, the soldiers who participated in
that war continued to pay a hefty price. Even after returning to the United
States, many suffered mental disturbances such as hallucinations and hysteria.
Others turned to street crime.

There
were three factors behind the success of Vietnam's liberation fighters, namely:

First: Working under a unified front and
unified command.

Second: The failure of American forces to
drag the Vietnamese into a conventional war and the determination of the
Vietcong to stick to a guerilla strategy that systematically undermined
America's war machine.

Third: Military and financial support
from the Soviet Union.

The
Palestinian experience began in similar fashion during the 1960s, with the establishment
of the Palestinian Liberation Army [PLO ],
but the effort faltered for the following reasons:

First: The fragmentation of the
Palestinian resistance into numerous organizations, with various names, and
under leaders with loyalties to different Arab countries.

Second: The shift to a strategy of direct
confrontation with the Israeli army and the public release by many of these
groups of their fighting tactics, which in turn made it possible to infiltrate
these organizations by intelligence agencies.

Third: The gradual shift away from armed
resistance into politics, which was the case with the PLO. Slowly but surely,
the PLO lost its properly trained forces and became isolated from the rest of
the resistance, which ended up divided on the battlefield. "Hamas" fell into the same trap when it decided to become a
political party, stand for elections and lead the Palestinian government after
winning. This weakened its military wing and exposed its leadership. Hamas then became the primary political opponent of the PLO
[now referred to as Fatah]. This has become a raging
confrontation between the two parties, and between Hamas
and other armed wings (such as the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade).

We must
draw the proper lessons from these movements to develop our own strategy. Allow
me - dear brothers in arms and nationalism - to lay before you a charter for
unified action. If you agree with this opinion and vision, then lets take
the next step and implement it with the power and dedication of men. If you
disagree with some of what I am about to say, then lets have a manly
debate over itand if want your own
voice to be heard in the media, then we are here to facilitate this, like the
men we are.

1) All
the resistance factions should be united and organized in a genuine effort,
under one umbrella and joint leadership. We must reject all of our ideological
differences; you are very well aware of the perils that encircle us all. A
united front is harder to defeat and dismantle than the numerous factions that
exist now. Unity will help us boost the level of organization and enhance our
combat readiness. It will also facilitate a pooling of expertise and a sharing
of responsibility, which will make victory for the enemy next to impossible.

We should
avoid release the names of organizations that commit acts against the enemy
just so it could be displayed on TV or printed in public statements, because we
should eliminate any kind of intelligence infiltration, which is similar to
what has occurred in some Palestinian organizations [for example, Hamas]. We need not brag out of pride; what we are in need
of is silent and effective work. Never forget or underestimate your enemys
intelligence capabilities.

2)
Organizations that lack local and international credibility must be removed
from our unified front. An example is the al-Qaeda
group, whose leadership is on shaky ground and whose operatives commit crimes
that vilify the image of the legitimate resistance. Their presence (within your
front) will facilitate infiltration (into your unified front).

3)
Utilize better intelligence gathering to expose gangs who kill innocent
civilians and destroy our countrys infrastructure. Your enemies are trying
to put the blame on you with the purpose of defaming you and misleading the
Iraqi people. And remember the role of the criminal militias that commit crimes
under the umbrella of Iraqi Police, and with the assistance of the Safawi [Persian or Iranian] government.

Do not
confine the resistance to Sunnis only, even though Sunnis are victim number one
at the hands of the Safawi [Iranians]. Rather,
resistance must be expanded to include all of Iraq's people, who we know
sacrificed for the good of the country for centuries before the advent of the
political scum that currently rules Iraq. The Iraq we want is the Iraq of
Sunnis, Shiites, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Assyrians, Sabians,
Muslims and Christians. We want an Iraq for everyone.

The role
of all resistance groups, whatever their size, should not be neglected. All
must become part of a unified front. We now know that a rearguard action is
being taken by a newly-formed Iraqi Community of Jaffari
Shiites [Jaffari was the previous interim Iraqi Prime
Minister]; this is a resistance movement affiliated with the Safawist [Iranian] regime in Baghdad and Iranian influence
in Iraq, and it's members are drawn from Arab Shiite tribes. Its leading role
became more apparent after the "Zarka"
massacre near Al-NajafWATCH; this
massacre was an Iranian plot executed by Iraqi Safawis
[Persians] with American assistance. This massacre (against Sunnis) was
committed for no reason other than that the victims were Arabs that were proud
of their Arabism and their honorable descent.

Those
Arabs are the successors of Al-Khazaal, Al-Hawatem and other prestigious Arab tribes; some of them
are intelligent military men, some are intellectuals and others are
politicians. They are our brothers in Arms, Arabism and Nationalism. [The author
is pointing out that these murdered Arabs were well-educated and of high moral
standing].

I have clearly, explicitly and sincerely laid before you these
five suggestions; nor do I exaggerate when I say that millions of Iraqis share
this dream and look to you to realize it.

So if one
of you reads this, I ask that you please present it to others for them to
evaluate it. When this dream is realizedthen a truly effective battle for the liberation of Iraq and the
liberation from every occupier and traitor will have begun. (Quran: Then the faithful Muslims will be jubilant with a
victory from Allah).